The family of a Portland man had to fight to get him back to the United States after he suffered a severe reaction to a jellyfish sting while swimming in Mexico.

The former Portland State University student is now in San Diego.

Craig Leibelt was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas with his girlfriend to celebrate his 28th birthday. While he was swimming on Monday, he was stung by a jellyfish, had a bad reaction to it, and went into cardiac arrest.

Leibelt went to a Cabo San Lucas hospital because he couldn't breathe on his own.

Leibelt's family and friends said the Mexican hospital kept upping his bill to as much as $50,000, telling them they wouldn't work with Leibelt's insurance company or release him until it was paid in full.

"The number went up to $40,000, then $50,000 last night, saying 'You have to pay this amount of money or we're going to move you to a different hospital,'" said Leibelt's friend Steve Cooper Wednesday. "All the while, he's still in critical condition. All the while, he's still unconscious."

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers heard in the very halls of government itself. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. ” Cicero

The US Americans would on the other hand let the Mexican youngster die.

Actually, one of the major problems in the US is that hospitals must treat everyone who shows up, no matter what their condition. Many who are uninsured (including illegal immigrants) go to the emergency room for non-emergency care.